If you haven't heard already, a Toyota Prius reportedly accelerated out of control on a San Diego freeway Monday morning, but the event ended safely thanks to help from the California Highway Patrol. Today, another Prius accelerated out of control in New York state and crashed into a stone wall, but the driver's injuries were not life-threatening. The cause of these events has not yet been determined.

The story making the biggest headlines comes from Southern California, where 61-year-old James Sikes went on a half-hour roller coaster ride down the freeway after his 2008 Toyota Prius accelerated out of control. According to Sikes, he had sped up to pass another car, but when he took his foot off the gas the car continued accelerating, eventually topping speeds of 94 mph. Sikes called 911 while attempting to safely pilot the car through traffic.
Roughly 20 minutes later, a CHP officer pulled up alongside Sikes and instructed him to use both the parking brake and the foot brake to slow the vehicle. Thanks to this action and an incline in the road, Sikes was able to slow the car to about 50 mph before switching it off and coasting to a stop. Contrary to some reports, the CHP officer did not use his car to stop the Prius. Rather, he positioned his patrol car ahead of the Prius in case such an action was necessary, but ultimately it was not.

Since the push-button ignition switch on Sikes' Prius was apparently working, it's unclear why he didn't shut off the car earlier, though the officer speculated that Sikes may have been worried about losing power steering. Sikes also claimed that attempts to put the car into neutral were fruitless. He traveled an estimated 20 miles before he was able to bring the car to a halt.
After the ordeal, Sikes claimed that he had received a letter notifying him that his car had been recalled, but that his local dealer told him his car was not covered by the recall. According to Toyota, no recall notices have been issued for the Prius yet, but the car is covered by the earlier floor mat recall and Mr. Sikes did not remove his floor mat. It has not been named as a cause of the incident, however. Toyota, the NHTSA and local authorities have all dispatched experts to examine the car and determine the cause of the unintended acceleration.
A second report has surfaced today out of Harrison, New York, where an unnamed 56-year-old woman pulling out of her own driveway had her 2005 Toyota Prius accelerate suddenly, which sent her careening across the street into a stone wall. The driver sustained non life-threatening injuries in the crash.

Local police say that the car has already been taken to their headquarters for investigation, though the floor mat has been ruled out as a cause. Per Toyota's recall last year, the floor mat had been zip-tied to the seat rails so it can't interfere with the gas pedal. Both of these incidents, if proven to be cases of unintended acceleration, could seriously damage Toyota's assurances that no Japanese-built cars are affected by faulty gas pedals (the Prius is built in Japan). The gas pedal recall currently only covers cars with a U.S.-sourced gas pedal.Keen to address this latest issue, Toyota released a statement late Tuesday informing customers that there are no new recalls planned for the Prius at this time. Only the floor mat recall is in effect for the Prius."There is no new recall being planned for the Prius to address this issue. To be clear, the 2004-2009 Prius was part of Toyota’s November 2, 2009 announcement of a voluntary safety recall campaign to address floor mat entrapment in certain Toyota and Lexus vehicles," the company said in a statement.Meanwhile, a group of Toyota dealers has banded together and levied some fairly serious charges against the federal government, accusing the feds of tacitly endorsing GM's predatory incentives for Toyota owners as the government currently owns 60 percent of the company. The dealers allege that GM is using taxpayer money to fund these incentives, arguing that not only are their own tax dollars being used against them but against American businesses in general. The dealers do not, however, offer any evidence that the money being used to fund the incentives is actually tax money and not sourced from elsewhere in GM's operations.

"Toyota dealers across the country are business owners who stimulate local economies and pay taxes to the government," said Paul Atkinson, President of the Toyota National Dealer Council and owner of Atkinson Toyota in Texas. "It is outrageous that GM is using our taxpayer dollars against us, making me and other Toyota dealers pay to undermine our own businesses."
GM responded that incentives are standard practice in the industry, and it's worth noting that several other automakers, including key competitors Ford and Hyundai, are also offering similar incentives to disenfranchised Toyota customers.
"We understand why Toyota dealers would be frustrated, but they know better," GM spokesman Kerry Christopher told the Detroit Free Press. "Incentives have always been a part of the auto business."
Source: Toyota, The Detroit Free Press Article 1 and Article 2

As much as I hate Toyota (and to a lesser extent, Honda), I will say that some (many?) of these claims are people with poor driving skills and/or panicked people with non-functioning brains. That said, shifting into neutral and/or standing on the brakes under full acceleration doen't negate the fact that there is something wrong with these cars because they are accelerating on their own to begin with. Going further, Toyota knew of this problem (and others) and did nothing about it (except trying to hide it to save $). That is another problem that has the potential to be worse than the acceleration. Don't let the media make you think that the 'run away car' is the main problem. It's the inability to fix the root cause and the desire to hide it from their customers. That's the biggest problem!

A co-worker of mine floored a company Prius going 75 and applied the brakes simultaneously, EASILY making the car slow down.There's no way these Prius' can be accelerating out of control. As long as you have a foot to push on the brake pedal, it's impossible not to stop the car.

As far as the floor mat things goes just an FYI for those who don’t know. If you ever race your car at a race track you have to take your floor mats out in any car. Because it’s possible for the floor mat to get in the way of the pedals in any car.

They have been selling the Mark II Prius for like 6 years now. Why didnt this happen this often 3 or 4 or 5 years ago? I believe some of these people, but i also believe others are too embarassed to admit they crash their car by doing something stupid, and others yet what attention and money.

swaneeriver68, i did that with an 06 Avalon. I was driving at 80, floored it, and shifted into neutral. The engine zinged into redline and bounced against it but the car slows as expected. The engine noise is not frightening as suggested by some people citing it as the cause for the victims' inability to remain lucid during the ordeal. It sounded like a cordless drill under a pillow. One of these day i will try it at 130 and see if it lets me and also the starter button.

alright just to let every one know, im not a big fan of toyota, even before this fiasco, but the prius in cali just seems like some one was looking for some attention. it might be true that his prius went revving out of control. but i doubt it!! but if you have ever drove a prius, youll know, that even at full throttle, 0-60 it is the slowest car possible, and then have you tried passing someone on a prius at 55+, you have to slam the throttle all the way, even then it takes so long to get up to speed that i thought something was wrong with the car.itll take forever to get up to 90, and serously, the nuetral thing and flipping over, funniest thing ever.again i am not a fan of toyota and would grab any *** d3, or europe car before i looked at a toyota. [bold]but come on, are you serous, he actually got a prius up to 90+!!!!! [/bold],

toyota really needs to stop blaming the floor mats. Its the most pathetic excuse they have come up with and i think it is the least costly one. In order for a floor mat to be blamed it has to be one of those big heavy ones that can weigh down the gas pedal. Also those big heavy floor mats arent all that flexible, So i want to know if how can the rubber floor mat manage to get its way on to the gas pedal with out getting in the way of the drivers legs??

Has anyone driving a vehicle on the highway with an automatic transmission floored the gas pedal and tried to put the shifter in neutral? I for one have not.If yes which vehicles let you do this and which ones do not?

It seems to me if you read between the lines these people faked or wanted these accidents to happen for a law suit or at least did little to stop them. They wanted to call 911 to document it. Do you think it’s not past the government to improve GM sales by using this as much as possible to hurt Toyota. It’s completely in their interest; improving GM will improve US economy and help get the tax payers money back from GM. I am not saying there is not a problem but if I was the government I would use this to my advantage.

Maybe if blog posters read more than the first two sentences of every Toyota accelleration article, they might have come across this:"Sikes also claimed that attempts to put the car into neutral were fruitless."Why didn't he put his car in neutral? Maybe he tried, and the article said so, but you'd never know, because you have the attention span of a gnat and were too eager to blog about the driver's supposed stupidity then read the rest of the story. Don't worry, there's videos on this site, so you won't be faced with the monumental task of reading ever again.

Oh and one more thing Toyota, how about reprogramming all your cars so if the throttle and brake are pushed the brake overrides the throttle..or the engine shuts down?Like a lot of other cars currently do.Simple solution, and could save some lives.

Just shows how people can just panic in a stressful situation and not respond rationally.He did not want to go to neutral, because he said he was scared to take his hand off the wheel and he was afraid to turn the car off because he thought the steering wheel would lock.He did apply the brakes and clearly there is something really wrong with Toyota's but dang people, try to think clearly and don't panic in life and death situations.

I'm confused by the neutral thing...why didn't he put it in neutral? Did he really believe that would 'flip' the car? I just don't understand. Do people understand how a transmission works? Still, this is obviously a horrible flaw in engineering. I don't see how Toyota can fix this considering how many cars they've sold. Maybe they just need to give everyone who owns a Toyota a new Toyota that doesn't have any possibility of this happening. Seriously. It might even end up being cheaper considering how many times they are going to get sued.

Yes some people are stupid and can't press the brake or shift into N, but that's not the problem. The problem is with UNINTENDED ACCELERATION - that's the root cause. And a zip tie? That is the worst, most hillbillie, redneck thing I have ever heard any car maker doing.That is beyond a joke; beyond pathetic; just terrible!

This incident is in the same league as a Rhonda Smith Testimony... Baloney. Only god can intervene. What was he doing during the 23 minutes of unintended acceleration? Ofcourse, call 911 rather than put it in neutral (he refused to do this) or turn the car off. DMV needs to revoke this driver's license.

The real culprit is getting more mysterious.. are all these problem pointing to one cause or many? in the prius case, it can't be the mat, can it be the pedal since it is made in Japan? it is build similar to that of CTS with the potential of being stuck.. or the pedal is never stuck and the behavior is entirely the result of software glitch or EMF? Investigators needs to find out if that pedal is actually getting stuck or not, they now got the best specimen..

This company should be ashamed of their pompous & arrogant attitude. They have cut corners, cost lives, and bragged about it. I truly hope people are smart enough to do the right thing and not support such actions, and that Toyota goes into the annals of history for good. If I see someone buying a new car from Toyota, they must be considered the dumbest unpatriotic fools on the planet!

Wow Toyoda wasn't kidding with that zip tie, that is pathetic. You can't drill two holes in the floor, attach hooks facing away from the gas pedal & install a new floor mat? No we are going to attach a zip tie to the front seat post. Pathetic. Rip out that drive by wire crap & replace the transmission selector to a mechanical link. If the computer freaks out & decides to ignore your gear changes you are going for a ride.

:confused: Has there been ANY incident reported of a manual shift Toyota accelerating and not going into neutral.And thee story I heard on this guy - when he was instructed to put the car into N, he refused because he was afraid if he put the tranny into N he'd flip the car.

Toyota is full of suck right now and the only thing they can do is blame the Government. Yes the US Government owns a stake in GM, but they do not operate it nor do they fund it. The funding provided was not a way to give incentives when Toyota ultimately failed. Remember, GM got the money from the Government BEFORE the major Toyota Fail.